


brought my friends from Signal

by philologer



Category: RWBY
Genre: Episode Tag, Female Friendship, Gen, Missing Scene, OFC citrine vane, OFC maeve aniline, Ordinary Combat School Students, Slice of Life, TFW your bestie has a new friend group, TFW your bestie takes down a Nevermore during initiation, Yang-centric, high school high-impact weaponry, i planned this fic before i noticed the shadows of yang's friends in ep2 are four guys, it's a character study really, mentioned Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long - Freeform, so let's just ignore that fact okay, team RWBY is full of BAMFs, the OCs are just to provide narrative structure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:07:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23721328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/philologer/pseuds/philologer
Summary: Ruby Rose, ch3: “I didn’t get to takemyfriends with me to school.”What did become of Yang’s friendship with those people she rushes off with in v1 ch2, anyway?
Relationships: Blake Belladonna & Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee & Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long, Yang Xiao Long & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	brought my friends from Signal

“… and she showed us all the different kinds of Dust cartridges she could load in it and she _demonstrated_ the ice Dust and then she kicked the training dummy and it shattered into _tiny little pieces_ and she was _SO COOL!_ ” Ruby squeals, hanging off Yang’s arm as she jumps up and down in excitement. From her place in the lunch line. _Everyone_ in the cafeteria is looking at them. Ruby’s only been at Signal for four hours and she’s already ruining Yang’s reputation.

Yang loves her little sister. But sometimes she’s – a lot to deal with.

“Yeah, Ruby, I know what Miss Peacock’s like,” she says, trying for patience. “I’ve been in her classes. For the past two years.”

“Oh. Right!” Ruby’s still bouncing. How does one eleven-year-old have _so much energy_? “Is she gonna show us more next week? Will there be explosions? What –”

“ _Ruby!_ ” Yang finally manages to dislodge her sister’s grip. She can see her friends waiting for her by the cafeteria doors. Maeve’s using the wait to toss her long purple curls and flex her muscles at a couple of the boys in their class who are still eating, but Citrine’s already started fidgeting impatiently with her telescoping glaive. “ _I’m_ going to go spar with my friends, like I always do after lunch. You need to get _your_ lunch and go sit with your classmates and make friends with _them_. Okay?”

Ruby pouts. “But _you’re_ my friend.”

Yang feels her exasperation slipping away at the sight of Ruby’s face. She can never stay mad at her sis for long. “Yeah, and I’ll be there after school and you can tell me everything then.” She ruffles her sister’s hair. “But I’ve got other friends I need to spend some time with now, alright?”

“Alright.” Ruby perks back up again, shaking her head to settle her hair back into its usual windswept look. “Have fun, sis!”

“Planning on it.” Yang grins, cracks her knuckles, and sweeps out the doors, Citrine and Maeve falling in beside her.

* * *

“So,” says Citrine. “That’s your sister, huh?”

Maeve shoves Citrine in the shoulder. “What, the thing where she yelled ' _SIS!'_ across the entire dining hall didn’t give it away?”

“Oh shut up,” mutters Citrine.

“Yeah,” says Yang, bluntly. “That’s my little sister. You got anything to say about it?”

“Gods, _no_ ,” says Maeve, raising her hands in mock surrender. “You two haven’t met my little brother yet. Aaaand now I’m thinking about it, I’m just gonna make sure you never do.”

“Yeah right,” says Yang, and rolls her eyes. “Citrine?”

Citrine shrugs her broad muscled shoulders. “I thought she was sweet, that’s all. The way she lit up as soon as she saw you, and then grabbed onto you like some sort of strangling ground cover…” She looks between her friends’ faces. “Okay, shutting up now.”

“Whatever,” says Yang, subject dropped. “Last one to the arena’s a rotten egg!”

She takes off with her two friends close behind her, the three of them shrieking and laughing and elbowing each other out of the way as they race down the school corridors. Yang insists she was first to the training arena, afterwards, but it’s too close to call.

* * *

“Hey, Citrine! Dad says it’s time to stop now!”

Citrine ignores Yang, just keeps on unloading punches and kicks into the heavy bag, her Semblance stirring up gusts of wind around her. Sweat trickles down her face. Her pale hair is plastered to her brown skin.

“ _Citrine_ _!_ ”

No response. Yang growls, and lets her Semblance unleash.

She ignites in flames. Energy rushing through her, she grabs the punching bag and rips it away from Citrine’s next blow, knocking her friend to the ground. " _Will you LISTEN TO ME!?_ " she yells.

Citrine glares up at her. “Damnit, Yang, I was in the zone!”

Yang lets the fire fizzle. “Dad – _Mr Xiao Long_ says the school day is over and he has to shut up the training rooms now.”

The school day’s long over, actually, and most of the students have left already – some, like Maeve, on air buses back to the city – but people can hang around for an hour afterwards getting work done or training if they want to. Or if, like Yang and Ruby nearly _always_ do, they’ve got to wait for Dad or Uncle Qrow to finish up whatever teacher-y stuff they have to do after school before they can go home. Ruby’s probably still with Qrow in the forge. Yang was hanging around with Dad in his office until he asked her to go clear out the stragglers from the training rooms for him.

“Time to go home,” she adds.

Citrine’s expression goes flat. “Yeah.”

Yang tosses her a water bottle and a towel. She waits in silence while her friend drinks, rubs herself down – no time to shower – and grabs her jacket.

Citrine’s here after school hours a _lot_ , these days.

“Hey,” Yang says finally. “Is everything… okay, at home?”

Citrine doesn’t look at her. Yang presses on. “‘Cause you know, if you want to talk about anything… Or if you want me to beat someone up for you –”

“I want to stop thinking about it!” Citrine rounds on her, wind whipping around them both. “I want everything to be normal! Don’t you _dare_ treat me any different than Maeve!”

“Sure,” says Yang, feeling obscurely relieved. “I can do that. You got it.”

* * *

So that’s how it goes. Citrine doesn’t talk about whatever’s going on with her, and Yang doesn’t bring the mood down either on the times when she really misses Mom – well, _Ruby’s_ mom. Or when she wants to scream at how unfair it feels sometimes that Ruby goes to _her_ in the middle of the night when she has a nightmare and Yang has to wake up and talk her down and be the protector. Or about her search for _her_ mom, which is full of dead ends.

She learnt, back when she was a kid. You can’t focus on just one thing all the time and charge ahead: that just runs you into trouble. You’ve got to have times where you do other stuff, rest and recharge and just be normal. That’s what her time with her friends is for.

So they go clubbing, and training. They shop for clothes and weaponry and music. They cram for exams last minute in the library, and gossip about cute boys or girls or enbies during the boring parts of classes. (Yang and Maeve date for a while, then decide they’re better as friends.) They cheer each other up over bad grades, support each other through rough breakups, and beat each other up in combat practice because they know their friends can take it.

And before they know it, they’re seventeen, and all three of them are going to Beacon together. And, somehow, so is Ruby.

* * *

“Actually my friends are here now, gotta go catch up, ‘kay, see ya, bye!”

Yang can hear Ruby calling out after her in desperation as she dashes off, but she pushes down the thread of guilt. It’s like Dad said: Ruby’s got to learn to meet new people, come out of her shell. Yang can’t look after her forever.

And her friends _are_ here, just getting off the next airship, and Ruby hasn’t gotten any less style-cramping since she was eleven.

They catch up in a whirlwind of hugs and backslaps and laughing compliments. Citrine’s cut off her ponytail and buzzed the sides of her hair short; Yang’s got new ammo in her gauntlets; Maeve’s got new, thigh-high boots. Yang and Maeve have to tell Citrine about the club they went to last week, an outing Citrine bailed on, and the new punk rock tracks out of Vacuo they heard there. Maeve and Citrine have to rag on Yang, _again_ , about the time she blew up Junior Xiong’s nightclub two months ago. (They’re still disappointed she didn’t invite them. She hasn’t told them what information she was after.) And they have to compare notes on who they’ve seen that they know from Signal – “ _Bruno_ said he got into Beacon but he’s not here, he’s _such_ a liar” – and on who all the new people might be – “Is that – Am I seriously in the same room as _the_ Pyrrha Nikos? Oh my gods” and what they think the teachers and the classes will be like.

Still talking, they follow the flow of other students to the amphitheater, where the stage is empty at the moment. They find a good spot to stand – not too near the front, obviously, but not lurking at the back with the losers either – and Yang makes sure to look out for Ruby and wave her over when she shows.

She meant to invite her sister into her conversation with Maeve and Citrine, but it turns out Ruby’s had her own drama going on in the past few minutes. Yang’s quickly caught up in it when a crabby white-haired Atlesian girl shows up to be huffy at her little sis, and ends up sticking with Ruby to support her when they all head into the ballroom after the headmaster’s speech.

* * *

After their initiation, all Yang’s worries about her sister’s social life disappear in a cloud of feathers. Suddenly she’s got bigger things to stress about. Like seeing her sis _charge right at a freaking Deathstalker_ –

Okay, no, that’s not fair. Sure, Ruby did do that, but her partner bailed her out (turns out Icy Weiss _does_ melt, even though it seemed like she was kind of struggling when she promised to be “nicer”), and then she was also the only one who could come up with a plan to beat the Nevermore at the cliffs. And it was an awesome plan, and it worked like a charm, so basically, Ruby’s got this handled.

 _All_ of Team RWBY’s got it handled. Yang doesn’t really know Blake yet, but she seems cool, in a low-key kind of way, and that moment when Yang caught the thrown ribbon of her kusarigama felt somehow like they’d practised it a hundred times before. So yeah, they can be partners. She’s looking forward to getting to know her better.

And hey, Yang jumped into a Nevermore’s beak and punched it and then her team chopped its head off! They can handle anything life throws at them.

She manages to meet up with her friends after the team-forming ceremony, while everyone’s milling around the amphitheater and the grounds under the light of the shattered moon. Maeve and Citrine ended up partners, teamed with two other students called Nettle and Nereus who they don’t really know. It would have been neat for the three of them to wind up on a team together, but Yang’s not fussed about it. Team RWBY is gonna be _epic_.

“Yang! Did you fight anything cool?” is Citrine’s greeting to her, while Maeve gives her an enthusiastic hug.

Yang fakes casual. “How about… that giant Nevermore you might have seen circling above the cliffs?”

“You’re kidding, right?” says Citrine with a snort.

“Nope! Team RWBY pinned it down and my sis chopped its head off, _wham_!” Yang makes a chopping motion with her hand. “What about you, get in any cool fights?”

“Uh – yeah. There was this one Boarbatusk…” Yang nods for Citrine to go on. “Maeve’s guns were only riling it up, so in the end I got her to bait it into running _right at me_ so I could spear it through the underbelly –”

“You fought a _GIANT NEVERMORE_?” Maeve yelps. Belatedly. “What _happened_ , are you okay? Do they have people with healing Semblances on standby or what?”

“What, no, we were all fine!” Yang strikes a pose. This was not what she was expecting. “There, see? Not a scratch!”

“Yang!” It’s Ruby, bursting through the crowd in a cloud of rose petals, the rest of the team dragged along in her wake. Blake meets Yang’s eyes in a silent appeal for help. “There you are! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Yang grins and links arms with her sister. “Gotta go!” she calls to her friends. “We’ll meet up after classes sometime, ‘kay, byeee!” And they’re gone, off to see whatever it is that Ruby’s found now.

In their first class the next morning, Weiss takes down a Boarbatusk solo.

Citrine and Maeve do meet up with Yang occasionally, on weekends or after classes, but none of them can much be bothered with planning and scheduled appointments and things like that, so it doesn’t happen often.

* * *

“Who’s _Teal_?” asks Yang, with an exaggerated eyebrow waggle.

Citrine shrugs. “One of the exchange students. From Vacuo. She’s pretty cool.”

“ _Pretty cool_?” Maeve elbows her in the ribs. “That’s not what you said last week. What was it –”

“Do _not_ –!” Citrine yelps, but Maeve barrels on: “– ‘Oh my gods I want to climb her like a tree and’ –”

Yang’s found Citrine and Maeve in the library this time: they’re all working on Oobleck’s latest essay together. Admittedly hers is already half-done, thanks to Weiss and Ruby’s newest meticulously planned out Group Study Sessions Schedule – even if half of those _do_ turn into board game sessions, gossip, or, once, a prank war with Team JNPR – but hey, nothing says she can’t work on it with her other friends too.

 _This_ study session, mind you, has _also_ turned into gossip, so the essay’s not getting completed any time soon. She leans back in her chair, balancing it on two legs, and laughs as she watches her friends banter.

“Oh yeah, well what about you and Nereus, huh?” Citrine shoots back. “They keep giving each other sappy looks when they should be sparring,” she adds to Yang. “It’s disgusting. I’m gonna ban it on my authority as team leader.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Oh, _can’t_ I?”

“Yang!” Maeve drags her friend into the conversational line of fire. “You can’t just sit out of this! Who are _you_ crushing on lately?”

“Blake.”

The name slips out before she can think about it. The other two blink at her.

“What, your partner?” says Citrine. “Ribbon-girl?”

“Seriously?” says Maeve. “I mean, she’s hot, sure, don’t get me wrong, but she’s kind of a cold fish. Deadpan, you know? Doesn’t seem like she’d be your type.”

“Deadpan?” Yang’s turn to blink. “I guess she is, but – when you know her you can see, she cares so much. She’s so passionate, about –” About the treatment of the Faunus. About stopping the White Fang, and finding out what they’re doing allied with a human mafia boss. She can’t say any of that. Blake’s Faunus heritage isn’t her secret to tell. “– stuff,” she finishes. “About what she believes in.”

Maeve and Citrine are still looking at her kind of weirdly.

“Also she’s hot,” Yang adds, and redirects the conversation back to the love lives of Team CNMN.

* * *

“… So, get this: it turned out all those Grimm were being attracted there because of this underground base that the White Fang had set up in! And they had a train full of explosives, and stolen Atlas tech too, they were gonna bust out of the old blocked-up subway lines from Mountain Glenn into Vale. So we fought our way up the train to try and stop it, but there were Grimm chasing us the whole way, and there was some _serious_ firepower on the train… I got in a fight with this creepy silent girl, but she was _good_ , I couldn’t beat her.” Yang scowls. “We couldn’t stop the train. That’s how the breach happened. And then you heard about the rest.” She holds her breath, waiting for her friends’ responses. They must have questions, comments; condemnations or congratulations…

“… Huh,” says Maeve.

“And we _missed the whole thing_?” Citrine grouses. “Damnit, and I thought that search-and-rescue mission in the west looked such a good bet and _nothing happened_!”

Yang finds herself comparing this to last night, watching the sunset on the cliffside by Beacon with her team, and the conversation they’d had then about what it all meant. Wishing she was with them now. When did her little sis get so insightful, anyway?

* * *

Team RWBY’s heading back to their dorm through the common room after another successful training session – Yang and Ruby’s new combo attack is _sweet_ , they’re calling it Sunrise, short for _strawberry_ sunrise – when Yang spots Maeve and Citrine in a corner with their heads bent together over a magazine.

“Hey, you guys go on ahead, okay?” she says, unhooking her arm from around Blake’s shoulders. “I’m just gonna catch up with Team CNMN for a bit.”

“Sure thing!” Ruby chirps. “See you later, sis!”

“Don’t stay out _too_ late,” says Weiss, but it’s more fond than pointed. Blake just gives Yang a smile as the rest of the team head out.

Yang goes and drops herself down on the overstuffed couch next to Citrine. “Hey, is everything alright?” she demands. “I haven’t seen you guys in the training grounds since the start of Spring Break, what’s going on?”

“Nothing’s going on, we just don’t want to be competing for space with all those wannabes trying to qualify for the tournament,” says Citrine.

“Yeah, it’ll be way less crowded in a few weeks,” says Maeve. “You’re still training now anyways?”

Yang blinks at her friends. “I’m _trying out for the tournament_.”

“Of course you are,” mutters Citrine. There’s something bitter in her tone. Yang’s eyes narrow.

“And what’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“Look,” says Maeve, leaning round her partner to touch Yang’s hand, “we’re not all Pyrrha Nikos, okay? And we don’t all hang out with the upperclassmen – I just think you’ve got kind of a skewed expectation of how good you’re supposed to be. We’re only first-years, you know? The Vytal Festival comes round again in two years’ time –”

“And _then_ we’re gonna try out,” Citrine cuts in, “and we’re gonna kick your ass!”

“Right,” says Yang. “Looking forward to it.” But she doesn’t feel like sitting around here talking trash with them anymore. She takes her hand back. “I’m gonna head back to my team. We’ve got some big plans for tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you around,” says Maeve, and turns back to _Weapons_ magazine. Citrine doesn’t say anything as Yang leaves.

* * *

Yang doesn’t hear from Team CNMN, after she gets disqualified from the tournament. They’re not the only ones who give her the silent treatment, either.

* * *

The letter is short – so, not from Ruby – and stilted, and full of crossings-out. Yang doesn’t recognise the handwriting. No one really sent her paper letters before – well. Before.

> Dear Yang,
> 
> I heard about your injury. ~~I hope you’re al~~ ~~I’m sorry about~~ ~~I hope you can get back to normal soon.~~ I hope you’re recovering okay.
> 
> I’m alright ~~except~~ My mom and brothers are fine too. My dad took a hit ~~from an Atlas robot~~ from an Atlas robot but the doctors say he should be fine. Our house is still standing.
> 
> ~~I~~ ~~How did you~~ ~~I didn’t~~
> 
> It turns out I’m not cut out for the life of a Huntress, though.
> 
> Citrine made it out okay. She left town a while back. I think she didn’t want to move back in with her parents. Like, not just in the usual way you don’t want to be living with your parents, somehow. Anyway she took all her savings and bought a ticket to Vacuo, she said Teal said it’s nice there. She might be planning to move in with her, I guess. ~~That’s moving kind of fast but I guess Citrine always does.~~ I don’t know if she’s going to apply to Shade. She didn’t say much before she left.
> 
> ~~I should have written sooner but~~ I’m sorry I didn’t write sooner.
> 
> I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do with my life now ~~that~~ . Maybe we could meet up sometime and ~~try to~~ figure it out together?
> 
> ~~Kisses,~~ Best wishes,
> 
> Maeve.

Yang sits on her bed staring at the letter. She feels hollow. The first thought that swims into her head, after what feels like a long time, is _I didn’t even know Citrine was dating Teal._

Citrine left the kingdom and it doesn’t even sting. _Blake_ ran, left her behind as soon as she could, and _that_ burns, like acid eating her up inside, but Citrine? Nothing. Weiss’ s father took her away, too… and Ruby’s gone on ahead, but Yang’s gonna catch up, because she _has_ to, she can’t leave her sister alone out there. She hasn’t even thought about Citrine and Maeve since everything happened.

Maeve assumes Yang’s given up, like she has.

Turns out the three of them left each other behind a long time ago.

The paper crumples in Yang’s metal fist. She tosses it over her shoulder and heads out the room. She can see Dad outside doing stretches, getting ready for their next sparring session. She needs to get back into fighting form, and she’s in the mood for a workout.

* * *

When Team RWBY makes it to Vacuo, licensed Huntresses there to protect the Relic of Destruction from an unkillable monster out of legend, Yang doesn’t even try to look up Citrine. They never used to talk about the important things.


End file.
